Season

For most of us the holiday season brings with it a myriad ofparties, gift exchanges, andshopping sprees. To get ready for these events, we have toshop, buy, bake, and travelwhich eventually results in our becoming overwhelmed,exhausted, and frustrated. Andthen we wonder why we don't have the "Christmas cheer" everyone expects at this time of year.

Is your life spinning out of control in a whirlwind ofactivity that is leading you nowhere fast? Have you been "busy" this season rather than"fruitful?" To determine this ask yourself the following questions: What have I reaped from the hours I spent preparing for presents, parties, and plays? Do people know more about Jesus because of my efforts to serve the poor and needy? Did I share Christ with the people I encountered? Do I know the Lord on a deeper level this year than I did last year? Am I spending more time with the Lord now or less time than I used to?

The enemy of your soul wants to short-circuit the blessings the Lord has for you by cramming your schedule so full of activity that you won't make time to spend with Jesus. Satan wants to distract you, and he is always engaged in a plot to get you on a path that seems good but will ultimately lead to your destruction.

The devil even uses our own feeble efforts to serve the Lord to get us unfocused on the true calling on our lives. When Martha and Mary invitedJesus over for dinner, Mary chose to sit at His feet and listen to Him speak while Martha was busy cooking the supper and tending to the details of serving her guest. Luke 10:40 says that "Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made."She even became frustrated at Mary for her lack of assistance and said to Jesus, "Don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself." Jesus' response to her was a gentle rebuke, "Martha, ...you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her." Notice that Jesus did not say that Martha's actions were wrong only that they were not the best response at that time to Jesus' presence in her home. Martha had been preparing a meal when she should have been preparing her heart.

We tend to place great priority on areas of our lives that get the most scrutiny from the outside world--how we dress, what we drive, how popular we are, how much money we make, and how successful we are. We want to appear capable and admirable just like Martha did. Yet the true focus of our lives should not be on outer sufficiency but on inner dependency. Mary recognized that worshipping Jesus was more of a necessity at that moment than serving Him was.

God is calling you today to sit at His feet, enter His rest, and allow Him to remove your burdens. You don't have to take care of all the details and solve all of your problems because Someone infinitely wiser and more powerful already has. Let Him do what only He can do--enable you to fulfill His purpose for you by drawing you into worship and sending you out to witness.

Questions or comments? Tell me what you think

All Bible verse quotations on this page are from the New International version.

[an error occurred while processing this directive]

[an error occurred while processing this directive]